Owners of land acquired for link road to New Chandigarh hold protest against administration

Over 50 farmers and their family members on Tuesday held a protest against the land acquisition policy of UT administration.

A shortfall of Rs 91 lakh in the compensation for 17.46 acres of farm land at Dadumajra and Dhanas for the link road between Dakshin Marg and New Chandigarh has triggered outrage among farmers who owned it.

Over 50 farmers and their family members on Tuesday held a protest against the land acquisition policy of UT administration. They claimed the acquisition is in violation of the Punjab Land Periphery Act, 1952.

According to the land acquisition officer’s order, the owner of the land in Dadumajra will get Rs 1.44 crore compensation for each acre, while the owner of the land in Dhanas village will get Rs 2.35 crore per acre. A total of 12.2 acres of 93 families are in Dadumajra and the remaining 5.56 acres of 17 families are in Dhanas.

The matter is pending in Punjab and Haryana High Court. July 14 is the next date of hearing. The farmers claimed that the administration decided the award and compensation money without following due procedure, contrary to the undertaking given in the high court on May 18.

The administration had announced the award money for the land on May 21.

Mohan Singh, one of the land owners in Dadumajra, said, “The administration is adopting double standards with us. All the villages in Chandigarh were undertaken by the municipal corporation as per Punjab rules. But our agriculture land is still under the rural area of Chandigarh, which is contrary to the Punjab rules. Second, the value of land of Dadumajra is being calculated as per the price of land of neighbouring places like Sector 38 West etc., but the prices of agriculture land of Dhanas village is being calculated as per the rate of registry of land since 2013. We were informed that people of Dhanas registered their lands at high prices than people of Dadumajra.”

The said land (17.80 Acres) is a prime land surrounded by many big projects such as Omaxe, Altus, PCL, PCA cricket stadium, DLF. Land which is a part of Punjab boundary costs 4 times then as estimated by Chandigarh Administration. Please note when road is there the Price of such land will see a boost.

Joginder Singh, vice-president of Pindu Sangarsh (Village Struggle) Committee, said, “There are so many reasons why the process and decided compensation money against the land are void and against the rules. First, all the agriculture land in Chandigarh is under the legal obligation that the owner of this land cannot take the permission of Change of Land Use (CLU). There are clear rules that if a plot is under legal obligation, it’s rate will be decide according to the price of the land of urban area instead of rural. The farmer, owner of the land, will be given 20 per cent share per acre of his/her acquire land. And the acquisition authority will follow the concept of rehabilitation and resettlement for the farmer whose land will be acquired. But all these rules were violated.”

Advocate Charanpal Singh said, “The last hearing took place on May 18. The difference between the compensation will last till Rs 1.50 crore. The administration has given an undertaking that compensation money for the land will be decided after proper procedure. We need the compensation on the commercial rates of land.”